Happy Summer and happy to see the longest daylight hours of the year here in Oregon for a while! These are special days for anglers, and a gift to be able to fish well into the evening and be in the presence of amazing light, graceful insects, and delicate rises from the trout we adore.
From my own archives that reside in the mushy gray matter known as Jeff’s weird brain, I can tell you some of my best fishing days in central oregon have been after work in June and July and having the ability to be on the water until dark. Places that has happened venture buying the obvious Metolius River, but the Metolius is always a favorite. The Middle Deschutes is quite possibly the next in line, Three Creek Lake, Mecca, “friday night fish” was a big event for Chester, Matt and I way back when. Even East and Hosmer Lakes when I didn’t mind putting a boat on a trailer in the dark and driving an hour and half home and getting to bed about midnight.
I am moved by the responses and feedback I get from this weekly report. I know it means different things to different people and that it is read by some just as information on the local waters, and read by others for more than that. In either case, thank you for being here with me each week and thanks to those of you who also provide me reports to share here. Everyone in this FFP community is important to me.

The Metolius River is beginning to see the Green Drake hatch wind down. Don’t think that I am saying it is over, because I believe all of this week from today through the end of the week is going to be productive on the Drakes. Once we hit July 1st, I would guess we won’t see much Drake feeding action again until September when the next Green Drake hatch comes to the river we all love. (I actually think the fall hatch is better than the spring hatch).
PMD hatches have been strong, as have evening caddis hatches and spinner falls. These hatches are prevalent and easy to remember, but I want to remind you to look for masking hatches of Blue Wing Olives, which can be easily overlooked when the slightly bigger and easier to see Pale Morning Duns are in the drift at the same time.
Also, we are learning that Little Olive Stones are more important to the fish for a longer duration than just September. Fish are eating Olive Stones #16-18 now along with #14-16 Yellow Sally’s and these could be the flies that might turn things around when the fish are playing “stump the chump” with us.
Griffiths Gnats are another fly that may bust it open, Advantage to ___________ (insert your name here) after tying on a G Gnat! Try it on a picky feeder. Let me know how it worked.
When was the last time you fished a Parachute Adams on the Metolius? Especially in the upper river from Gorge up to Riverside, that is a good searching dry.
Speaking of the Upper River, the Golden Stone progress with adults hatching got stalled a bit over the last few days with cold weather. But in a couple of days we are back to warm sunny days and it is high time to get the Clarks Stones and Norm Woods Specials tied on, and get to work the upper reaches of the river with these larger dry flies.
When you are not finding the hatch, or finding willing participants to a dry fly, you will want to be fishing golden stone nymphs, 20 Incher, soft hackle pheasant tails, zebra midges, caddis pupa (especially the fat ass caddis), perdigons, walts worms, lightning bugs, 2 bit’s and micro mayflies with the latter focused on PMD and BWO size and color.
You should also be fishing with smaller euro jig streamers on any stretch of the Met, and know that some amazing Bulls and Browns have recently been caught on these types of flies. If you are not taking your euro game out to the river to include small streamers, consider adding them to the mix and enjoy the success it should bring to you. The Tungsten Jig Squirrel in Black or Natural, Soccer Mom’s and the Olive Mini Gulp are the trio we usually cycle through.
Also, I want to encourage those of you with more experience with the euro rig to lighten up your mono-rig, and get the lightest mono on your reel. If you are new at mono-rigs this is probably not for you, but if you have some experience already, tie up 25 feet of the .007 (4x) Umpqua PerformX micro leader (it’s bright green and easy to see) and then blood knot 2 to 3 feet of .006 (5x) Cortland Tri-Color Sighter and at the end of that you can add a 2mm tippet ring, or skip it and just add your 6X fluorocarbon tippet (about 5 or 6 feet usually) to the sighter. The competition anglers have gone with this set up and have gone away from using tippet rings in many cases to reduce drag and simplify the set up. Also, a lot of success is coming with this rig using a single fly instead of adding a dropper. It is always easier to achieve a great drift with a single fly, no matter if it is a dry fly or a euro nymph. Some food for thought as you approach a challenging river….. Will you try it?

The Lower Deschutes was difficult the last couple of days with the strong cold front passing through. I do not believe this bad trend will continue and that by monday or tuesday summer conditions will be back along with better fishing.
Before “Juneuary” hit us 2 days ago, the hatches of caddis, PMD and Pale Evening Duns were super good. I am confident they will be super good again in just a few days. Hang tight.
Tomorrow is already improving with temps almost 20 degrees warmer than today and a lot less wind. Monday is going to be glorious and a celebration of caddisflies I would bet. X Caddis, Iris, Corn Fed, Spent Dead Bug and Elk Hair in Tan and Brown from #14 to 16 to match the hatch.
PMD, PED, Purple Haze and Rusty Spinners too.
Tons of good nymph action on the Mono-Rig and with a Strike Indicator. Caddis Pupa, PT’s, Red Ass Soft Hackle, Yellow Soft Hackle and PT Soft Hackle are very good to swing or dead drift. Killer flies. Perdigons and Walts and the discovery (not too recent, but it still feels new) are Soccer Moms and Squirrel Streamers. Also, have you ever tried a tan X Caddis as a nymph? Especially in the evening with a small split shot in the riffles or a dropper with a Fat Ass Caddis as the point fly and the X Caddis as a dropper tag fly.

The Middle Deschutes had a bit of a scare this past week with the Alder Springs Fire burning all the way to the Deschutes and jumping the river and racing up to the backyards of homes in Crooked River Ranch. That area down by Sundown Canyon was affected, but it looks like Steelhead Falls and above were spared.
Good fishing is to be had on the Middle D from the CRR area up to Bend, and you’ll find mornings from 6 am to noon and evenings from 6 pm to dusk will favor the catch rates.
Dry fly action is consistent in the evening, and may offer gifts in the morning sessions too. PMD’s will be out at both times, and look for PED’s, Caddis and small BWO’s (#20) in the evening. Rusty Spinners are likely to be the last fly you tie on for the evening, but it could be possible you never need to clip off the #14 or 16 Purple Haze you tied to your tippet 2 hours ago!

The Upper Deschutes is a Mosquito HELL now. Fishing is good though, so what is your tolerance? How will you prepare to overcome the swarm?
I think this week we will see some Golden Stones up there.
PMD’s and Caddis will be your main hatches, Ants and Beetles are always a good idea on a forest headwater river and if you want to lay the gauntlet down you tie on a Dark Walts, a Brown Jig Napoleon and a Black Jig Squirrel streamer and get after it.

The Crooked River is fishing great, water levels are a nice summer level at 277 cfs and while nymphing is going to offer the best results day to day, our guide team has certainly found some really nice dry fly times recently. PMD’s and Caddis are the main hatches, but also use a Purple Haze, Renegade, Adams and a Laramer’s Yellow Sally which is robust enough to float with a nymph behind it as a dry-dropper rig. I think the fish eat that larimer’s fly as an immature grasshopper.
Scuds, Zebra Midges, Lighting Bugs, Fire Starters, Micro Mayflies, 2 Bit Hookers, Brown and Olive Perdigons and Red Worms are all productive now.

The Fall River is getting more crowded with the Summer Holiday crowd from Sunriver and Bend. Start thinking about the 5 am to 10 am trip, or 5 pm to dusk outing. Some areas will be bad with mosquitos, especially near the tubes and the falls.
I talked to a customer who was there a few evenings ago and he said fish were consistently rising to dries, although he has a difficult time trying to decipher what the fly was. We talked about it, and considered a Rusty Spinner as the most probable, although he did get some fish on a tiny black midge he really thought that was not really what was happening, but the fish accepted the fly as a good opportunity from what was undoubtedly a good presentation and good drift.
Streamers, eggs, red zebra midges with a tungsten bead and perdigons in a bunch of color and bead options are working well.
I’ll share a memory with you about “Friday Night Fish” that I mentioned up top in the opener. My good friends Chester Allen, Matt Klee and I used to meet at the Tubes every Friday night in the summer and fish after work until dark. I would rig up my rod and take a rip on the pipe Merle Hummer gave me after he introduced me to the joys of a little Mary Jane on the Rio. Happily down by the river, we fished a lot of dry flies! And one night I discovered a dead drifted black wooly worm would produce some great responses from the fish. I haven’t tried that since. I haven’t tried a lot of that since. Hmmm. Those were the days. Special in so many ways, but amongst the best was the traditions 3 good friends did with each other week after week and summer after summer until people started moving away to chase other dreams.
I would give anything to have Matt back for another Friday Night Fish session with Chester and I.

LAKES REPORT

The gate to Three Creek Lake opened yesterday. The weather was atrocious yesterday and today so not many folks went that I know of yet, but we should be getting our first reports early in the week.
No access that I am aware of to the store and boat ramp yet due to the snow bank at the dam. Usually early season a black balanced leech with an orange bead is pretty consistent. It’s a sold lake fly almost anywhere and we would tie that on 1st. Chromies, Red Ice Cream Cone, Red PT, Callibaetis nymphs, Damsel Nymphs and Scuds are all matching food sources prevalent in the lake.
I would not be surprised to see mayfly hatches by mid-week with the warmth returning tuesday to the mountains. Also, ants and beetles will be good now, and let’s keep an eye on caddis hatches this week or next week and planning to add Black X Caddis #16 and Goddard Caddis to the fly selection, especially for evening sessions.

East Lake had some ugly weather arrive yesterday and that is too bad because I know a lot of good friends who were planning to be there and enjoying some fishing this weekend. Some stayed, despite the weather and other retreated to lower elevations, or surrendered completely and went home to warm up and dry out. It snowed and East and Paulina this morning and add a stiff wind to the mix and that is no place most of us want to be right now.
But the good stuff will return very soon and just 2 days ago the callibaetis hatch was coming off quite well and that will be back pronto.
Besides callibaetis, scuds, chironomids, damsel nymphs and leeches will match a lot of what swims beneath… Red Jig PT and Callibaetis Cate are my go to flies under the indicator for my first choices. Fish 3 to 10 feet depth mostly with the nymphs now.
Beetles and Ants along the shore line are good and will get better over the coming weeks.

Paulina Lake over all is trending good, but I will tell you we had a tough day there on Wednesday. We got a few trout and more Kokanee on a mix of Beetles and Chironomids and Red PT’s, but the bite was off when I was last there. I talked to people who have been there this week and heard better reports, even one with over 20 fish on a Hippie Stomper. I think we had a blip on the radar Wednesday and I look forward to another day there soon.

Hosmer Lake is currently one of my favorites and this week the channel seemed to fill with more fish than I have seen since it opened. Not a surprise really with the lower lake warming up some and getting a bit of a bloom started. The Channel and Upper Lake are very clear and cold and oddly we are not seeing much of a mayfly hatch. #wherethehellarethecallibaetis? Red Chironomids and Red PT’s and Leeches so far have been my best patterns there lately. A lot of indicator fishing so far too, but bring a Hover line and your clear Intermediate lines and strip soft hackles, scuds, damsel nymphs and non jigged callibaetis nymphs. My favorite Hosmer Leech is usually a Watermelon Leech, but this year a Black with a Gunmetal Bead had been a good fish catcher too.

I always love when customers I trust send me reports, here are 2 that I am going to share with you:

Crane Prairie
Hi Jeff,

Hope all is well with you! I fished Crane yesterday and today, the weather was sunny yesterday but pretty gross today. The biggest challenge is too much wind! The morning has been best both days. Not overly hot fishing but they are definitely around. Haven’t fished the channels, been mostly in 8-10 feet of water.

Yesterday pumpkin leech and balanced damsel was best, also got at least one on a Tungsten Poudre Pupa. Do you know what this little tan bug imitates? Is it a chironomid still covered in mud or what? 

Today with the weather being gross I didn’t even try damsels. I went 2/6. One fish on a black balanced leech and the other on red holo jig.

Overall fish quality has been good (besides one wierd really skinny 21 incher), a lot of nice sized fish. Thursday the buddy I am fishing with got a beautiful 23 incher which was very cool!! 

Hoping to fish tommorow morning there as well, hope we get a few more! Hope this update is helpful for you, and you have a great summer. 

Best, 

Micah K

And for Lava Lake
Hello Jeff,

I thought I’d share some thoughts on Lava Lake.

Fished it on Tuesday-Thursday this week, mostly from a one-man pontoon in the SW corner/quadrant.

Was good early Tues and Wed for 12-18” trout on black or red/black leech on a type 3 line.

Fish were holding 12-15 feet deep.

Got blown off the water both days by wind by noon.

Thursday, the bite went completely dead, and the wind picked up as well. (Incoming front?)

Best regards,

Wade K

As you can see your last name needs to begin with a K to submit a report for publication. HAHA. But these are really nice and current shares from 2 good people. Thanks to Micah and Wade for these.

Little Lava is a winner and I can’t wait to be back there this week. It is seeing a consistent a quality afternoon callibaetis hatch offering excellent fishing throughout the hatch cycle with nymphs, emergers, duns and at some point spinners will be on the menu as well. I have not yet seen the timing for that, but be ready for it with a spinner pattern to compliment the other flies you carry for the rest of the cycle of this mayfly hatch.
Chironomids and Balanced Leeches will crush fish now. Don’t forget Blood Worms! The lowly blood worm is a creature found hanging out near the bottom, and at times there will be 1000’s and 1000’s of them hovering above the marl, sometimes awash in the wind currents and other times just happily hovering. Think about the happy hoverers and set that indicator deep and keep your fly 10 to 14″ off the bottom.
The Red Holographic Jig and Spicy Squirrel nymphs around the weed beds and marl patches.

One of the best things about this fly shop is longevity! Longevity brings lasting relationships and friendships that go back decades, or that began this week.
It is men and women who share passion for fish, or passion and desire for the perfect cast, or love of a special place that bonds us to the earth.
These are people who sure as Hell are not going to let our public lands be sold off and will speak up in the coming weeks against the proposal that might let that happen.
These are also people who are grassroots and think about local issues, like helping Trout Unlimited on a project, or volunteering with the Mayfly Project to introduce kids who are otherwise underprivileged to our great sport.
Amongst this group are 2 guys staring out a windshield driving with to the lake with great anticipation talking about deep stuff in our life. Good men do that. And it is acceptable. Encouraged.
It is also a group of 5 women who joined us on the Lower Deschutes for a 3 day camp trip and came together as one talking about the fishing, and the camp and especially the camaraderie so much that they want to regroup again and again.
That is what FFP is.
It is a “place” that transcends fishing that brings good people together because of fishing.
I love this “place”.
Next year is the 40th anniversary of FFP, and next year we celebrate at a different level, but today and tomorrow’s celebration are no less important because every day is important. I am happy to know so many people living it so well and the angling crowd are my people.

See you in the shop or on the water!
Jeff

PS- All Argentina current trips and both Chile trips are full minus 1 spot in December, but it has to be just the right person to be included in a 3 day camp trip.
I am adding another week in Argentina the last week of January for Women only at this time. We will be announcing this with more details this week with Esteban and Trini down in Argentina but it is the last week of January and will be combined with some great city tours and tango dinners in Buenos Aires with Trini from Travel Dreamers.
Our June Baja Trip is also full but I am happy to get you weeks during non-hosted times from April through October. Santi at Angling Baja is doing great work with us and this is going to be a lasting relationship for a wonderful fishing destination.
Our April Belize trip is just coming together and let me know if you want to be a part of that group with me 4/11-17, 2026. This is a prime Permit fishing week and of course good opportunities for Bonefish and Tarpon too. And one of the best lodges I know.
Talk to me about these and let’s get you going on an adventure.